


Half of My Heart

by reciprocityfic (orphan_account)



Category: Dancing with the Stars (US) RPF, Maksyl - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Maksyl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 02:10:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3918931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/reciprocityfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>what do you do if you love two people?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Half of My Heart

They’d been back together coming up on a year, and he knew that an engagement ring was beginning to become overdue.  Neither of them were getting any younger, and the relationship was good.  It wasn’t incredibly stupendous, but it was good. They were both happy. And he loved her, truly.

But surprisingly, the urgency for something more - for a wife and his own family - wasn’t really there. She made him feel safe. Content.

But she had been dropping hints the last few weeks - leaving jeweler’s websites open on his laptop, casually slipping her friends’ weddings into conversations more and more - so he figured it was time.  It wasn’t like he didn’t want to marry her.  He just hadn’t gotten there yet. So he decided it was time, before she got upset.

He took Val with him one weekday afternoon for help, because he knew she would want the ring to be right, and he didn’t want to screw this up.

“What do you think, little one?” he asked, leaning down onto the glass case, peering at all the sparkling diamonds.

“Maks.  I’ve told you which ones I think are nice about twenty times.”

“But you haven’t told me which one you like the best.”

“I’m not going to pick for you,” Val said slowly.  “You’re the one popping the question.”

“I know,” he exhaled. “It’s just that there’s like five that she would really like.  So how do I know which one she would like the best?”

He ran his hands through his hair and hung his head, gazing down at the daunting rings blankly.  Val put his hand on his brother’s back.

“Bro. I know this is stressful. It is for everyone.  You just have to…Just stop thinking so much. Picture the moment, and when you see that ring on her finger, which one is it? Do it without thinking.”

He sighed, and then closed his eyes. When he opened them he let instinct take over.

And he smiled sligtly.

“What?” Val asked.

He pointed with his index finger to a piece of jewelry.

“You picked!” Val exclaimed.

“No,” Maks said, nudging his brother. “It’s..Meryl would want this one. She would love it.”

Val didn’t speak, so he turned to him. His younger brother stared at him, eyes wide, mouth slightly open.

(He realized that he might have said one of those things that he thought more often than he liked to admit, that crept up on him in quiet times when he had nothing else preoccupying him.  That refused to die, no matter how hard he pushed them.)

“How do you know that Meryl would want that one?” Val whispered.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled, a hot blush beginning to color his cheeks.  “Just look at it, Val.  It’s her. Everything about it screams Meryl.”

Val stared for a moment longer, and then grabbed his brother’s arm and pulled him away from the jewelry counter.

“What the fuck?” Maks growled.

“Just give me the benefit of the doubt for a few minutes and follow me.”

Val led him out of the store and to their car, getting in. His brother follow suit.

“What the fuck is going on, Val?”

“Before you ask Peta to marry you, you need to be absolutely sure that you know what you’re doing.  Because both of these women are too amazing for you to fuck up like this.”

“Both of these women? Who, Meryl?”

Val nodded.  He made himself laugh.

“I think you’re making a bit too big of a deal out of this.”

“Of the fact that you just went in to pick out an engagement ring for Peta, your girlfriend, and picked one out for Meryl instead?”

“I’m not going to buy it or anything,” he muttered.

“I know that, Maks.  That’s not the point.”

“What is?’

“The point,” Val went on, “is that you still know her in a way that’s better than your girlfriend at times. You still get a look in your eyes whenever someone mentions her.  You hate her boyfriend and get pissy when someone else dances with her and still get a smile on your face when she texts you that looks like you just won the lottery.”

He didn’t say anything.

“So, Maks.  Are you sure?”

He didn’t say anything.

“Maks.”

He finally whispered, “What do you do if you love two people?”

Silence passed between the two brothers.  He could feel Val waiting for him to explain.

“What if…you have one girl - this hot, beautiful,  _sexy_ girl - who is also kind and smart and thoughtful and funny.  And you run in the same circles.  She fits in seamlessly with your friends and family.  Everyone loves her.   _You_ love her.  And it’s not earth-shattering, novel-worthy love, but there is no doubting that you love her.  And it fits.  It makes sense.  And you’re with her and you love her and you’re happy.”

“But then,” he continues.  “What if there’s this other girl?  Who isn’t your type, who you never would’ve met under normal circumstances. But you did meet.   And when you’re with her, it feels like everything in the world is in its right place.  But because your lifestyles are so different, and you can’t be together they way that you want to, it just…doesn’t work.  And it breaks your heart, but you don’t know what else to do.  Don’t you go back to the first girl?”

“Maks,” Val whispered.

“And what if you’re happy with her,” he nearly cried, tears in his voice, “and you love her, but you still dream of the other girl every night?”

Val stared at his brother.

“What do you do if you love two people?”

“Maks.”

“What do I do?” he breathed.

Val put his arms around him, pulled Maks into a hug, speaking into his hair.

“You keep going.  You don’t do anything drastic, like propose to one of them.  And you pray for a sign.”

That night, both prayed for signs.

(Val wondered if his was the little pang in the back of his heart that told him that it would always be  _her,_ he would never stop loving  _her_.  That she had changed him with her small voice and fierce spirit and loving soul.  That she, a little ice-dancer from Michigan, had shaken his world, and nothing in it would ever be in order unless she was by his side.

Maks wondered if his was the fact that he dreamed about her again that night.)


End file.
